Konoka and Mitori
by YayaSamuko
Summary: MMORPG is serious business. Meeting another player in real life is even more serious. But above all, getting a cute girlfriend with a dark side is the paroxysm of seriousness. [HonoKoto because I can!] (Yandere Kotori)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Long time not seen! I'm back!**

 **So, actually, your grandmother passed away last month and I was fine at first (or what I thought) but it did affect me more than expected. Of course, there is a tradition where we don't mourn in my family so every time I spend a sleepless night, I can't help but regret something when she was still at the hospital.**

 **Anyway, enough with the out of topic subject— we are here for some HonoKoto; something I haven't been writing lately but I wanted a little change of pace so here we are.**

[-x-x-x-]

 _White short-sleeve shirt; check, blue short shorts; check, hair band; check._

Standing in front of a fountain was a young girl, seemingly feeling nervous as she couldn't help double check her appearance every five seconds. She was at the park on a Sunday afternoon and was waiting for someone. People were passing by; minding their own business but the ginger was just standing there.

One might wonder why someone like was being this nervous. Well… it would be hard to understand without a little reminder about Kousaka Honoka.

— _Flashback—_

20 years-old young girl Kousaka Honoka was a college student at the popular University of Tokyo, namely Otonokizaka. Being a second year in computer science, she was obsessed with high technology and was indeed what one could call an "otaku".

Her hobbies were playing video games, reading manga and watching anime. In fact, she was well-known on the world of online RPG playing as Konoka. On her free time, she would usually get behind her computer and play her favorite MMORPG, namely the popular Love Live in which one player can incarnate a hero in a fantasy-like world, battle against monsters, complete quests and of course aim to be the best.

Since she was still living with her parents, she had to help from time to time on their sweet shop. That didn't stop her from being an average college student though.

She had a very good reputation on the online gaming world, something she has kept her statut since high school. However, something was beginning to trouble her lately. It was not the new quest about finding wythern to adopt or the one in which you had to defend a temple against a horde of Kobold. No; it was because of a new player that got a status above her.

Mitori was a very newbie player who just created her account one year prior—compare that to Honoka's four years—but she did rank higher than the ginger on several missions they got the opportunity to form a team.

' _She got MVP again…'_ The young student fell on her back on the comfortable carpet laid in her room after seeing a popup message on her laptop. Since it was Saturday afternoon, she had nothing to do so she joined a raid and guess what? Mitori got most of the enemies. _'Konoka is a Valkyrie so she is immunized against many ailments stats. Also, she has several great skills and has ice elements. On the other hand, for some unknown reason, Mitori is a Rune Knight. Sure she has awesome skills and healing magic but something is definitely off.'_

A sigh escaped the ginger as she sat up straight again and clicked several buttons until her character was back in town. She figured since she got a rare item and lot of gold piece, better make some trade for a better equipment. Honoka figured since she couldn't spend real money because she needed these for anime and manga—especially for weekly jump, shounen jump and yuri shimai—so she had to complete hard quests to obtain good equipment.

Taking a check at the status window, her character was at level 102—the fifth highest-level character after Mikozomi, Elichika, Tomaki and of course Mitori. She still needed some experience before leveling up so the idea of doing another quest right away was tempting.

Before she could open another window though, another popup appeared and she read it. "Mitori wish to have a private message with you."

Honoka placed a finger on her chin and thought. It was something unusual as the only time they have chatted was during few raids and it was mostly with texts but now she was asking for a webcam on. Since the ginger has never seen the mysterious knight's face, she was tempted but suspicious.

In the end, her curiosity took the top and so she clicked yes, putting the webcam above her laptop. She could have sworn the loading part was painfully slow as her heart was beating really fast. It was not everyday that she got to speak with someone with a status above her. The rare time she has ever done that was when Mikozomi has started flirting with her on text chat and wanted to activate webcam.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, the chat window appeared and she was greeted by a smiling young girl—about her age if her appearance was not lying. Honoka was left speechless as her eyes couldn't help scan the background; a very tidy room with lot of cute pillows and plush on the shelves behind Mitori. Compared to that, the ginger's room was in a mess as magazines were spread on the bed, DVD booklets were on the floors and she was still clad in her pajama at 02:00 PM.

"Hello!" The ash-haired girl's angelic voice made Honoka self-conscious as the contrast in between them only intensified.

"H-hi…" Her voice came a little too meekly and she feared Mitori might think of her as weird. Well… she noticed that the girl at the other side of the screen was still waving a big bright smile while hugging a cute pink pillow. Her clothes were composed of a cute frilly yellow and orange dress while her hair was attached partially into a sidetail. Honoka noticed they had the same hairstyle and were using the same design or ribbon—with different color; yellow for Honoka and green for Mitori.

"Nice to meet you, Konoka-chan! Thank you for accepting my chat request."

"Y-yeah… Sorry if I'm not presentable. I just recovered from a cold."

"Oh. So I guess that explains you were inactive for the past four days." The other girl displayed concern at these words.

"W-well… yeah. But thanks to my little sister, I got better in no time."

Mitori then chuckled. "Is that so? You look like about the same age of me by the way." She said before realizing something and made a quick apologize. "Oh. I'm sorry for forgetting to introduce myself. I'm Minami Kotori, a second year student at UTX University."

"Oh. You go to UTX?" The ginger got curious as a smile spread itself on her face. "What course?"

"I took Telecommunication course." She replied, the smile never leaving her face. "Since I've admired people working for the network service since I was little—they are so cool, always doing their best to make sure families get in contact no matter where they are—I wanted to work there as well someday as a technician."

"Wow!" Honoka awed, entering fangirl mode. "You're amazing, Kotori-can! That's such a noble target. Compare that to me…"

"How about Konoka-chan?"

"Hun? Me?" The ginger paused an instant as she was trying to remember her own name. Without realizing it, her little gay heart has been stunning her brain and made her totally unable to think straight. She had to admit that she was able to think very well while speaking with Mikozomi but this Kotori definitely was something a level above. "I-I'm Kousaka Honoka, second year in computer science study at Otonokizaka University. Since I've always enjoyed playing games, I wanted to get a job where I get to sit behind a computer and play lot of online game."

"Wow! You're amazing, Honoka-chan." Kotori praised her, somehow confusing the otaku girl. "I mean you know what you truly want and you are doing your best to achieve that dream."

"But I think Kotori-chan is way cooler." Deciding to accept her total defeat—accepting the fact Mitori was above her—Honoka just wanted to befriend the girl now and instantly gave up on the idea of scoring higher than her in Love Live. Well… who wouldn't forgive that angel? "I mean you truly are a hero. I admire you."

"Hehe. You're going to make me blush." The ash-blonde placed both hands on her cheeks as her face turned pink. "But I still think Honoka-chan is awesome."

A goofy smile made its way on Honoka's face as her gay heart raced faster. _'She's cute.'_ The ginger had to slightly hide her face by placing a hand in front of her nose as to not look creepy. "I know! Since we got in good term this fast, how about meeting in real life?"

It was not the first time Honoka was going to meet a gamer on real life as she has already visited Mikozomi—or Toujou Nozomi—after their chat. They had some nice chat but were not at each other's taste so they just remained friend. However, if she plays her card right, maybe she can get a chance with Kotori.

' _I have been too absorbed with video games that I never got that an active social life. The only time close to a relationship I got was when Arisa-chan has practiced confessing to me.'_ The girl remembered the time when Eli's younger sister has approached her and has asked for her advice of how to confess to Yukiho. Of course, being a good older sister, she has adviced Arisa to train confessing to her. In the end, Yukiho has accidentally stepped into their practice and misunderstood the whole situation, spreading the information around school.

It was really awkward for the ginger having to explain everything to angry Eli glaring daggers at her skin. It took about one month to clear the misunderstanding and in the end, Yukiho and Arisa got together. Well… at least Honoka was glad the blonde older sister's protectiveness wasn't as intense with her younger sister now.

"That sounds good." Kotori replied, bringing the ginger back to real life. "How about tomorrow afternoon? Since I have nothing to do, maybe we could go somewhere and get some ice cream or parfait."

The ginger's face instantly went beet red. _'P-parfait? Is it a d-date?'_ She mentally stuttered, remembering a similar scene in a manga from the month prior's edition of yuri shimai. That didn't stop her from accepting though. "S-sound good! H-how about we meet at the park in front of the fountain at 02:00 PM?"

"It's fine by me." The gray-haired girl agreed.

— _End of flashback—_

' _Gah! I'm so nervous…'_

It was very unusual for Honoka to dress this properly. She would usually wear tracksuits of simple clothes when attending college regroupment, let alone going out on weekend so it came in total shock for Yukiho when her sister has asked for advice the night prior.

"Honoka-chan~!"

The girl was once again brought back into reality by an angelic voice and she looked up to see the girl of the webcam walking in her direction. Kotori was clad in a sky blue dress that made her look cuter. Of course, the ginger had no other choice but to mentally give a thumb up and smiled at her date (?). "Hello, Kotori-chan! It's such a good weather today."

"Yeah." The other girl nodded as she took something from her handbag. "My Mom told me to give you this first thing after we meet by the way." She took out a pink enveloped that smiled a nice cherry scent. "She has told me to not look what's written inside and told me to ask you to read it first thing before anything."

"Really?" Honoka accepted and found no reason as to not read it. Not a minute later, her face turned pale though and she had to put an awkward forged smile, trying to avoid eye contact with the other girl. "W-well… I understand her concern." She thought aloud before Kotori grabbed her hand and started leading their way out of the park.

"I kind of can guess what's written in there so let us have our date, Honoka-chan~"

Honoka was at loss at words as she didn't know how to respond to that.

— _The letter—_

 _Dear Konoka,_

 _As Kotori's mother, I am proud of my daughter's purity. Since I was very strict with her back in high school, she never got to have a lover and such attitude lasted for years until recently when she wouldn't start talking about a certain "Konoka" she has recently met on her MMORPG._

 _I am concerned, like any parent would. She has suddenly changed and asked me if I was okay if she got a close friend. I was confused and didn't know how to respond as I didn't get what she really meant. Now, I do._

 _I will maybe accept you… maybe not. It will depend. I mean I need to have a face-to-face talk with you but I know you two already have plans for today so I will ask to meet you next week. In fact, I will not interfere at all until next Sunday so that gives you two lot of time to know about each others better._

 _As to conclude this letter, I will list the 10 privacy and policy needed if you want to become a "close friend" with my daughter:_

 _1\. What you do to her, I will do it to you_

 _2\. You break her heart, I break your leg_

 _3\. Prison is just a room_

 _4\. Kotori is everything I have and need_

 _5\. I am a very patient person and so is Kotori so pressing forward/rushing is not something we can tolerate_

 _6\. You need a social life and so does my daughter_

 _7\. Please tidy your room from time to time (Kotori has showed me your talk on the webcam)_

 _8\. I hope you don't drink/smoke_

 _9\. She doesn't need expensive presents_

 _10\. Kotori needs lot of affection_

 _P.S: Oh. I forgot to mention that Kotori has some Yandere/sadistic tendencies so good luck!_

[-x-x-x-]

 **A/N: I've been playing too much RPG lately…**

 **See you next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: With the exam over, time to get serious! (I need to drown the fact that I totally goofed Statistics and Fluid Mechanics.)**

[-x-x-x-]

"So, how did it go well?" The girl on the screen teasingly asked. She had long untied purple hair and was hugging a pink pillow while clad in her purple pajama. Of course, the headphone she used was an expensive one and her room was well-decorated.

"I think it didn't go well…" Honoka sighed as she fell on her bed. For her case, her room was tidy and she was putting her laptop in speaker mode when speaking with her friend. "She is very cute but kind of scary once I got to know her."

The other girl chuckled. "Well… Must have been tough, Konokacchi~" The girl by the nickname of Mikozomi teased as she took a small notebook where she noted few important things. "I have made some research on my own and found out that Mitori-chan is elite among elites at her school. She is always smiling to the point of being creepy so some of her classmates are afraid of her."

"Eh! Even though she's that cute?"

"Yes. Her mother is a total authority in the domain of education and is very possessive of her daughter so everyone fears her."

The ginger sweatdropped at the new information. _'That explains the letter… though I don't think they are bad people.'_ She pushed her back so she could be in a sitting position. "Well… I think I want to stay friend with her though. Kotori-chan can be very fun to be around if it isn't for her creepy smile that made the waitress run in fear when she split coffee on my shirt."

"Wait. What?" Nozomi gave a tilt of the head.

"Ah. I didn't tell you? During our date this week-end, we stopped at a coffee and the waitress made an accident so Kotori-chan gave her a very creepy smile. I even got scared even if I wasn't the receiving end."

The other girl chuckled after a while as she fell flat on her bed, her laptop resting on a kotatsu beside her bed. "Well… Honoka-chan is a funny and odd girl so I guess the two of you make a cute couple."

Honoka felt embarrassed at the praise and so gave an awkward smile, rubbing the back of her head until she realized something and gave a yelp. "Hein? What do you mean by odd girl? I'm not that weird."

The answer just came in form of an all-knowing smile. Nozomi just decided to ignore that part and went with another topic. "By the way, you know about the new join raid? It's for this Saturday night and starts at 08:00 PM. Maki-chan and Eli-chi said they will be joining us."

"Yeah. I heard about it." Honoka's smile returned as she stood up and walked over to her kotatsu to switch a small tab. "Already 9 people has joined. And I think no one else is going to join."

"Really?" Nozomi also switched the tab on her laptop. "Let's see… There's Tomaki-cha, Elichika, Mitori-chan, Konoka-chan, Mikozomi, NyaRin, PanaPana, Nico-Nii and Sonoda Umi."

"Sonoda Umi?"

"Something wrong, Honoka-chan?" The purplenette noticed the pause and switched back into the video chat.

"I had a childhood friend with the same name…" She paused while scanning the avatar. "Her family had to move away for various reasons so I couldn't get in touch with her." Honoka explained. _'Gender: Female, Class: Samurai, Level: 56… Her character is till low-level but she has already completed two SS-rank missions. That's so like Umi-chan; she knows how to plan things well. A difference of level shouldn't handicap her.'_

"…chan…noka-chan… Honoka-chan!"

"Ah!"

"Honoka-chan, are you listening?" Nozomi asked with a serious expression as she saw that her friend was oddly quiet.

"Y-yeah. Sorry I was thinking…"

The purplenette made a shocked expression at that reply, earning a very childish pout from her friend.

"Nozomi-chan is so mean!"

"Sorry, sorry…"

Just as Honoka was about to counter, the door to her room was opened by an angry younger sister. "Onee-chan, will you shut it out?!"

"Yukiho? You were home? I didn't hear you?"

The red-head's face turned red as she stepped in and leaned in to give her sister a hard headbutt. "Onee-chan, you are lazying around again, aren't you? I was just cleaning you room and now," she pointed at a potato chips' cover on the floor beside her, "what is this?"

"I can explain…" Honoka eyed at the screen, hoping that Nozomi could help her but she just got an apology smile.

"I suggest you take your responsibility, Honoka-chan. Consider it like a training for your future situation with your future mother-in-law."

"Wait, Nozomi-chan!"

Too late as the Miko has already logged out, leaving the ginger alone with her furious sister.

[-x-x-x-]

The next day, Honoka was on shopping duty. Since she liked moving her body, the girl has cheerfully got changed into her tracksuit and ran around. It usually took her more time shopping because she ended up goofing around too much but her mother knew that and took it in account.

While the ginger was at the mall, she enjoyed looking at everything knew and most of the merchant there knew her. She was a nice girl who did smile at everyone after all. It took her half an hour sightseeing before deciding to get serious.

Walking up the stairs, her eyes caught sign of something though from the other side of the upper corridor. Realizing the familiar aura emitted by it, Honoka could guess who it was and ran after the individual.

"Kotori-chan!"

Perfect! She guessed right as the casual dress-clad young woman turned around to see her newly made friend running in her direction. "Hello, Honoka-chan!"

It took the taller girl a couple of second to get her breath back to normal and then waved a very bright smile. "Let me guess… You are on shopping duty as well?"

"Yeah." The other girl nodded as she showed a cute handmade basket she was holding with her left hand. "Want to shop together?"

"Sure thing!" The cheerful girl agreed and started to lead the shorter girl until they reached the bakery. They needed bread after all and when bread is said, the ginger became crazy as it was her favorite thing to eat. The two of them entered the shop and were greeted cheerfully by the owner. They then started looking around. "What should we get for now?" Honoka took a piece of paper from her pants' pocket and walked around. "Baguettes and Pain farçi…"

Kotori smiled as she picked few types of bread and paid for them at the counter. Honoka did take her time though and didn't fail to try the sample they put for the new product. Seeing how happy the ginger seemed as she was swallowing the bread, the shorter girl decided to give it a try and did enjoy it. "It's delicious~" She said with her usually pitchy voice. "How about I take some? I am sure Mom is going to enjoy it."

Honoka smiled happily. "You should definitely! It's delicious." Her smile then slightly fell as she made a comical face. "Unfortunately, I have spent most of my allowance with a new earplug so I don't have any more marge. I am sure Yukiho would be happy to try it though…"

The ash blonde noticed her friend's expression and decided to grab her hands. "In that case, I shall buy some for Honoka-chan as well. It's only normal for friends. Consider it as a gift for what's up ahead."

"What's up ahead…?" The ginger echoed her friend's words, not understanding what she meant by it.

Before she could get it though, another customer accidentally pushed Honoka from behind as they were in a rush. She would have fallen face first on the floor if it wasn't for the other net gamer who has managed to grab her in time. With Kotori's left arm wrapped around the taller girl's thin waist and her other hand on Honoka's chin as a support, the ginger had the feeling the stylish college student seemed stunning. It felt as if the background has changed.

"Are you okay, Honoka-chan? Aren't you hurt?"

"Y-yeah…" Honoka's voice got caught in her throat as her imagination was making her hear odd sound like some violin playing in the background or having the impression that the shorter girl was wearing a prince's suit, her voice being ' _ikemen_ '.

"Are you really sure?"

"Y-yes. I am fine."

Kotori smiled at these words, her frown disappearing as if it never was there in the first place. "I am glad in that case." She helped the other girl standing back and that was when she has noticed the young man—presumably a college student—who has almost caused Honoka's accident. She turned to him and so did he to see a very creepy look on the girl's face. **"How dare you hurt my dear Honoka-chan?"** Her voice was somehow scary and dark-toned.

Such thing made the man scared as he quickly bowed his head. "I am very sorry. Sorry."

" **Are your sorry enough I wonder?"** Kotori crossed her arms as the look in her face only turned darker, her eyes seeming as if they had no compassion whatsoever. It was the same look a serial killer usually had. It was as if the blonde was a different person from earlier. **"If I report that act as violence, you could take some damage from it."**

"Just from accidentally knocking someone?"

" **You have almost made my beloved to fall on the floor. Such act is an unpardonable act for me."** The little bird insisted, her dark aura growing stronger, making the older college student to tremble in fear.

Honoka has realized the situation was a replay of what happened at the café and so quickly stopped the girl from doing anything else or they might get into trouble. That and she felt sorry for the man. "I-I am fine, really. There is no need to worry. Let us just buy these breads, Kotori-chan!" She forced a smile while holding onto the shorter girl's arm as to calm her.

Kotori instantly calmed down as she felt her friend's hand on her skin. Her expression softened as her smile returned. "You are right, Honoka-chan. We can't waste such precious time worrying about such thing."

The ginger sweatdropped as she had no clue what the other college student was saying. She just decided to go with the flow and gave a bow at the man though. Of course, such action totally made Kotori pissed as her bad self made a short appearance, allowing a click of the tongue to escape her. Fortunately, the boy quickly made a run for it and she has calmed down when Honoka grabbed her hand again, this time to go to the counter.

[-x-x-x-]

"I'm so tired…" Honoka fell flat on her bed as she let go of a very long sigh. After their shopping with Kotori-chan, the two of them has decided to have a little look around Akihabara and she ended up totally tired. After all, the other girl would turn into her aggressive self every time someone was getting in their way.

The worst case was when they were walking around the park on their way home when two guys stopped them and Kotori has flatly told them to go die. They didn't take it well and tried to assert themselves, causing the shorter girl to become physically violent by judo-throwing the one on a nearby trash bin and giving the another one a high kick on his face that threw him on the lake.

"I didn't imagine Kotori-chan to be that strong…" The ginger placed a hand over her eyes as to hide the light of her room's light tube. "She has told me she was member of the Judo club back in high school but I never expected her to be this strong." She thought and compared that to her high school life. "I mean I was member of the Computer Research club in high school so I didn't train that much question physical… though I used to be a member of the Kendo club in Middle School…"

Her eyes fell on a framed picture on the bedside table and the ginger stood up to have a look at it, a smile on her face. On the picture were two girls—a cheerful ginger and a meek blue-haired _yamato nadeshiko_ —and a tall man behind them. It was a picture taken several years prior after the duo of girl has managed to beat their teacher for the first time and so decided to take a picture as a memorial.

"I wonder how Umi-chan is doing…" She thought aloud before standing up and powered her laptop on. "Well… no point in overthinking! I might as well do some grinding for Saturday's sake!" Honoka sat down on the carpet, the laptop on the low table. It didn't take long for it to fully boot so she opened the Love Live game and logged into her account. She was lucky as someone she knew was also online. "It looks like NyaRin-chan and PanaPana-chan are online. I might as well send them a message."

As she sent the messages, a popup has notified her that the two girls wanted a video chat. Well… she has already seen their faces so it came to no surprise as they were apparently high school girls and childhood friends. Moving the cursor, Honoka decided to accept the video chat.

[-x-x-x-]

 _Saturday morning…_

Honoka was at Nozomi's place. There was also a quarter-foreigner blonde in there as well. The three of them has been having a conversation after the ginger has arrived. Apparently, the blonde—Eli—has been staying at the wanna-be fortuneteller's apartment for the night and they have called for Honoka to come by as they had something to discuss about.

While mostly talking about the possible strategies for the upcoming raid, they occasionally talked about their families. The conversation went smooth until Honoka's stomach grumbled and so they had a snack.

"I talked with NyaRin-chan and PanaPana-chan the other night." The ginger initiated another conversation, mouth full of bread. "They proposed we have an official meeting someday."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." The quarter-Russian nodded as she took a sip from her teacup. "We have known each others for a year now so it's only fair."

"Ain't it?"

"Yep!" The purplenette agreed. "We should invite ToMaki-chan as well in that case. I bet she is a real-life tsundere as well."

Honoka remembered something about said player. Her character was a Paladin and had lot of cool skills. She would usually reject video chat and the rare time they chatted via message, she would always sound bored and overconfident in her abilities.

"Well… I doubt she will accept but let us try anyway." Eli placed her cup back on the low table before standing up. "Anyway, it is already 09:00 AM so how about we get some supplies?"

By supplies, she meant snacks and drinks for the night when they will have to do the raid. The three of them would usually buy snacks together and coordinate themselves before going home. This time, it looked like the two older girls were going to both stay at Nozomi's apartment though. It wasn't as if Honoka was jealous or anything but she just wanted to know how it might feel to play together on a MMO while having a sleepover.

With a sigh, she brushed these thoughts away as the trio walked out of the apartment and started walking toward the supermarket. On their way there, the ginger glanced up at the sky, a smile on her lips. _"I wonder what Kotori-chan is doing right now…"_


	3. Chapter 3

In the complete darkness, if it wasn't for the light coming from the laptop's screen, Honoka was very focused. Her headphone on, the young college student was listening to a playlist of idol song as to cheer her up and help her finish the assignment as soon as possible. Since she has only been playing video games lately, she has failed to notice the approaching deadline of their assignment.

' _The raid will start in one hour and I still need to repair this.'_

A very long sigh escaped her as she rested her back against the bed. Her knees were sore from sitting for too long but she couldn't complain. After all, she had one month to complete her project but always pushed it for another day. Now, it goes back to her at full force.

' _Dammit! I can't fix this bug.'_ Honoka mentally screamed as she took the book resting beside her laptop and scanned it. The cover said "Conversion C to Java". Since her project was about conversion and bug fixing of a software, it turned harder than building. _'I should have done with the project of building a maze game using Java software. This is a nightmare!'_

More sigh later and she found herself moving her hands as to write more on the compilator. The ginger was talented in compilating C language but was not very good in Java with its complex functionment. Never did she think she would cry like this from trying to find a way to convert a couple of code.

As the tension was building very high, the alarm she set on the laptop went off and it startled her to the point she almost jumped. She was about to scream and swear about her bad luck but then realized it was time for the raid.

' _Well… I could always take a small break. I will need to stay long on this all day tomorrow though…'_

Deciding she will kill herself the next day, the girl switched the tab and opened the Love Live online game. It didn't take long to load and she got a logging notification. It turned out she has received a gift from another player. It was an enhanced mythril shield. Sure it was a good item but compared to her Legend shield, it was lame. She decided to keep it anyway.

"Hello, Konoka-chan!" A familiar voice echoed on her headphone and she realized the auto-chat option was on since everyone taking part in the raid has arrived. "Let us do our best again today nya~"

"Yeah! Let's do so, NyaRin-chan!" Honoka had to say these in a low tone as she couldn't speak too loud or her mother and Yukiho will give her hell.

"Good evening, Konoka-chan!"

"Yeah! Let us do our best as well, Panayo-chan!"

"You took your time."

"ToMaki-chan~!" The ginger smiled happily as she heard the other familiar voice. She has already heard her voice several time but never got to see her face. "How are you?"

Their avatars were all already visible on screen and were gathered at the guild while waiting for the time. However, out of sudden, the Valkyrie—Mitori—violently smashed the Wizard—ToMaki—with her weapon, making her HP drop dangerously.

Everyone gasped. "What are you doing, Mitori?" The owner of the Wizard avatar asked angrily as the team's Priestess—PanaPana—started healing her character back.

"Sorry. My fingers slipped." Kotori replied with a very innocent tone but Honoka knew it wasn't that honest. Maybe it would be better to not tease someone else while the brunette was around, she noted to herself. "Anyway, now that Konoka-chan is here, only Sonoda Umi-chan has not arrived, right?"

"Yeah!" Eli responded with a nod and everyone else decided to check their inventory and equipment one last time. Not long after, a notification popped, signaling someone has joined the raid. "Looks like she is here."

"Sorry for the wait!" The Samurai entered the guild and greeted everyone.

"Hello, Sonoda Umi-chan!" Honoka greeted back and she could have sworn the resident Valkyrie was casting a spell. She quickly moved her character beside Mitori. It was enough to cancel the spell and the ginger let go of a sigh. "Anyway, should we start the adventure now?"

[-x-x-x-]

 **A/N: The following scenes will be from the game's point of view.**

As the nine adventurers entered the raid area, they were instantly greeted by powerful monsters. Since discussion of strategy was already done via message text, they had no problem organizing.

Their Tank would be Sonoda Umi the Samurai, Konoka the Rune Knight and Mikozomi the Berzerker. Their job is to get the enemies' attention and take their attack. Since they have lot of defense, there shouldn't be any problem.

Next up were the Rangers; NyaRin the Assassin, Mitori the Valkyrie and Elicchika the Sniper were to attack the enemies when the Tanks get their attention. They usually have high offensive power but lack defence.

Finally, the Magic Users are composed of PanaPana the Priestess, ToMaki the Wizard and Nico-Nii the Bard. Their role was to give assistance with offensive or healing magic as to support everyone else.

With everything set, the party soon arrived at an intersection and paused. By the left was a dark corridor leading downstairs while on the right had stony paths leading upstairs.

"I propose we take the one on the right." Nico-Nii insisted as she pointed said direction with her harp. "Since most monsters here are Poison and Demon Type, we will be able to clear the dungeon faster by avoiding useless encounters."

NyaRin was the one to disagree. "I think we should take the dark path though. It might as well be a trap."

"Don't be ridiculous. The monsters here are just brawl and no brain."

"But let's think about the possibilities first. We shouldn't rush recklessly."

ToMaki stepped in between the two of them as she saw the tension was building in the air. "Calm down! We don't know for sure what might be ahead so let's take a break and discuss this over."

"I second ToMaki-chan!" The resident Berzerker raised a hand as she took a map. They have cleared about 1/3 of the dungeon by that time. The Boss' room wasn't identified yet but it might not take them too long. "Let's settle a temporal camp for now."

With that said, everyone decided to mount a camping area. Said area helped repelling monsters away and allowed them to regain their lost MP. With the Bard still pouting as she wanted to end the raid as fast as possible, everyone except Konoka were gathered around a table and talking. Seeing the Knight, Mitori approached and placed a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder. "Konoka-chan~"

The ginger smiled back as she watched the taller girl from over her shoulder. "Mitori-chan…" She was seated on a rock and patted the area next to her motioning the other girl to have a seat. The Valkyrie happily accepted the offer and clung to the ginger. "Actually… I don't know what to do…"

"About what?"

"You know… Sonoda Umi-chan… I had a childhood friend who had the same name so…"

A dark aura instantly formed around the Valkyrie but Konoka didn't notice it yet as her eyes were busy looking at the dark corridor. "So…?"

"Well… I didn't have the chance to talk to her yet so I was thinking of how to abort her."

A small evil chuckle escaped the yandere girl as she stood up and offered a hand to help her friend stand up. "I that case, I will help you."

"Really?" asked Konoka, oblivious to the evil smile on her friend's face. For once, Kousaka Honoka was a very dense girl and the fact of them being in a video game was making it harder for her to get a real clue.

"Of course." Mitori led them to the current group. "How about we split into several groups and look for clues?" The experienced student proposed.

"That sound like a good idea." Elicchi agreed as she closed her map. "Since we won't be able to progress by pouting at each others…" She glared at a certain duo who refused to look at each others and were acting childishly.

Sonoda Umi stepped forward at these words. "Then, we should split into three groups and bring a teleporting item all just in case. The first group will take the left corridor while another will move right. The last group will walk back another way to check if we didn't miss a secret door or something."

"Agreed!" Nodded the Snipper before Nico-Nii dragged her best friend and her to her side. "Nico?"

"The senior trio will take the bright path." Exclaimed the petite girl. Mikozomi didn't seem to have any objection.

On the other hand, NyaRin clung to PanaPana and ToMaki. "Then, we will take the dark path."

"Hold on a second." The red-head protested but everyone ignored her, forcing her to go with the flow.

"So, that leaves the three of us, huh?" The Samurai turned to the last two and gave a bow. "I will be in your care in that case."

"You are welcome, Sonoda Umi-chan." For the dense members like Elicchi, Konoka and NyaRin, the Valkyrie looked like she was smiling cheerfully but for the more obvious people, they knew something was off with that tone of voice but went against commenting about it.

"Then, we will meet again in 20 minutes. Be sure to have a fairy ring equipped so we could teleport where you are instantly." Mikozomi waves as her group walked their same. Same went with the second group.

After everyone else was out of sign, the last trio decided to walk back the path they took earlier. Konoka was somehow happy that she got a chance to talk with the mysterious girl thanks to Mitori (?).

After a good minute of walking in the silence, with the only source of light being a torch in the Samurai's hand, the Knight finally decided to speak. "I forgot to properly introduce myself by the way." She turned to the taller girl with a beaming smile. "My real name is Kousaka Honoka and I am a college student."

Sonoda Umi seemed surprised and didn't respond for a while before returning the smile. "I am using my real name though." She weakly responded, avoiding eye contact. "You kind of remind me of someone I know…"

By that time, Mitori has lost patience, an angry vein popping on her forehead and without a summation, smashed the nearby wall with her spear. The two other girls jumped in surprise and turned to the Valkyrie who was giving a very creepy smile. Even for a dense Honoka, she could understand.

"Sorry. There was a bug on the wall so…" a blatant lie that fooled no one. However, neither dared questioning and just pretended to be fooled.

"Y-yeah…"

Out of sudden though, an earthquake took place and the ceiling started to fall. Mitori just had enough reflex to grab her Knight by the wrist and managed to cast a barrier spell. Fortunately, the rockfall only lasted for few seconds.

While the two friends were unscratched, Sonoda Umi was gravely wounded with only 10% of HP left. Konoka rushed to her and was about to cast a healing spell when something landed above them. Said thing turned out to be a giant humanoid towering over the trio. It seemed like having the appearance of a human girl clad in a full body armor.

The girl's expression instantly turned into horror at the enemy's aura. "Oh my ghost! It's the last Boss!" yelled the ginger as the Boss swung a giant hammed and hit her, sending the Knight against the wall, leaving her barely alive with 5% of HP left.

"Honoka-chan!" Mitori was in panic as she saw what just happened. Seeing that her friend was still alive, she glared at the monster thought and pointed her spear at it. "How dare you…? To my Honoka-chan!" She instantly casted several boosting spells on herself and charged at full force toward the giant, delivering a powerful blow, followed by a combo of attack.

The enemy seemed to loose balance fast so she jumped high and held her spear with both hand, pointing it downward. Following that, several thunderbolts fell on the Boss.

As Mitori landed, she gave another barrage of hit, not giving the enemy a second to breath. By that time, the Valkyrie was in full Berzerk mode, her attacks x5 and critical rate 100%. "It's not over yet!" She yelled while throwing the weapon. Said spear exploded as it made contact with the armor, fully destroying it and reducing the Boss' defense by half. Another combo of hit followed as the Valkyrie has summoned a rapier this time.

However, her luck ran out as the enemy's life reached 30%. It instantly entered veil mode, boosting all its stats and gained resistance against all elements. On the other hand, Mitori has lost more than 80% of her HP because of the recoil of her attack and now got the stats decreasing penalty from entering Berzerk mode.

As the Boss was about to smash her with its hammer, Konoka managed to save her at last time by diving forward. The two of them slid on the dirty rocky ground until smashing against a huge boulder. The Knight refused to let go of her friend though so she took all the damage due to that. Now left with only 1% of health, she still stood up. "It's all right, Mitori-chan! You did enough."

"Honoka-chan…"

The Knight turned to the Valkyrie and gave her a bright smile, telling her that everything was all right. Mitori felt powerless as she was unable to move due to a paralysis status. On her knees, she could only watch in horror as the Boss swung its weapon high in the air while Konoka turned to it, the smile still on her face.

Just as the monster was about to smash them, the taller girl shut her eyes close anticipating an imminent death. One second… then two… three… heartbeats slowed down as the brunette slowly opened her eyes, not feeling pain nor death and realized the monster has stopped dead in its track before the hammer hit the two of them. On closer look, a couple of near-invisible treads were binding the enemy's hands and weapon, stopping it from moving.

"Gheez! You three are so hopeless." Nico-Nii grinned as she appeared from a dark corridor to the left. "Feel thankful because everyone's idol has saved your life."

"Nico-Nii-chan!" Konoka and Mitori both cheered at the same time.

Not only her but PanaPana was done casting a healing spell on the near-unconscious Sonoda Umi. Said Samurai stood up with her help. "Thank you, PanaPana-san."

The brunette just chuckled as NyaRin ran past the two and jumped high until landing a good cut from her knife on the enemy's now bare back. It roared in pain as the attack has caused more damage than it seemed. "Secret Assassin technique: silencer." Normally, that technique would have cause both Silence and Paralysis status but the enemy's immunity was stopping it.

As the Boss let go of its hammer and turned toward the catgirl, a powerful smash from a giant axe hit her from behind, followed by an explosion. The enemy fell on its knees as Mikozomi landed near the wounded duo. "You two all right?"

"Y-yeah." The ginger nodded.

Elicchi also stepped in and charged five arrows at once on her bow before aiming the ceiling. As they were shot, a portal appeared and absorbed the arrows. Another portal opened, about 50 burning arrows rained on the Boss, severely damaging it. PanaPana took the occasion to run to them and casted a healing spell on Konoka and Mitori.

The group had to rethread at once though as the enemy's health has reached 5%, meaning ultimate mode. With its defense boosted tenfold and speed three times, it would be a pain trying to defeat it. Having already prepared a strategy beforehand, the nine of them got into position, their HP now full and waited for the giant woman to charge at them.

Before that though, ToMaki approached the Rune Knight. "You should equip the mythril shield by the way. It will protect you again charge skill."

"Y-yeah…" Konoka nodded before realizing she hasn't told anyone about the gift she received yet and wondered. "Wait. How do you know I have a mythril shield?"

The red-head avoided eye contact as her fingers started playing with a tip of her hair. "I-I just figured you had some additional equipments so I guess I guessed right."

"Really?" The ginger gave a tilt of the head, giving an unintentional cute appearance and ToMaki had to really avoid looking at her for fearing a cuteness overload. While doing so, she saw a menacing aura surrounding Mitori though as the cute girl seemed to be giving a genuine smile but had a very powerful killing intent. The Mage got the message right away and returned back to her original position, leaving Konoka confused. "Hein?"

She didn't get the chance to ask anything though as the monster charged and as advised, the mythic shield equipped, Konoka stopped it by blocking the charge with her shield. Oddly, she didn't receive as much damage as she was expecting, thanks to the equipment. Sonoda Umi then took the occasion to jump high and delivered a downslash toward the enemy. Being about 100 levels under the others, her stats were very low but Samurai skills usually went regardless of stats as they worked on the principle of luck and sacrifice.

That attack being her most powerful has managed to reduce another percent of life bar but in exchange of 90% of her own HP as well as being stunned for 20 seconds. During that time of weakness, PanaPana casted a healing spell on her while chanting a defense enhancing skill for Konoka.

It was now their Berzerker's turn to attack. Mikozomi ran behind the enemy and delivered several powerful smash at its back. It enraged the giant who then ignored the Knight and turned to the purplenette. It smashed the ground several times but the tall girl managed to counter every hit. She was able to survive thanks to Nico-Nii's auto-regen spell as well as ToMaki's speed enhance.

As the enemy's full attention was set toward the Berzerker, Elicchi and Mitori got ready. As the sniper aimed for its neck with her bow and arrows, the Valkyrie chanted a blizzard spell surrounding the Boss. With the constant smash from Mikozomi and the arrival of Konoka attacking from behind, NyaRin jumped high and stood on the ceiling, making ninja hand gestures and breathed a cloud of poison. A fire spell by their resident mage and the enemy exploded. Thanks to PanaPana's barrier, they all managed to avoid getting hit by the explosion.

A large smoke covered the area and everyone quickly gathered, backing each others until several spectral objects flew around. They all tried their best to destroy these. While the fighters were using their weapons, the casters used their most powerful spell and the smoke soon cleared, allowing their vision back. The Boss was no more and a popup message appeared, congratulating them.

"Honoka-chan~" The first thing Mitori did was taking her friend in an embrace while everyone else smiled. The dungeon cleared, the nine of them were teleported at the exit and received credits as well as rare equipment and fame. "We did it!"

"Yeah!"

[-x-x-x-]

Honoka finally sighed as she smiled at the popup message on her laptop screen. Their team was a very strong one since despite it being their very first mission all together, they did very good, especially while fighting a giant and ghasts.

"Awww…" The girl fell on the mat and mentally cheered, not daring yelling because her mother would give her hell if she did so. _"We did well."_

After a good minute of celebration, she finally sat up again and opened the group chat. Already several messages from NyaRin and Nico-Nii were flooding in there and she didn't bother reading any of them.

"We all did good! We definitely need to meet in real life and hang out somewhere together."

There was a minute before responses came. The first to message was NyaRin. "That sound good! I want to meet with ToMaki-chan nya~"

"No thank you." came the Mage's cold response.

"No need to be shy, ToMaki-chan~" Mikozomi continued before she sent another message few seconds later. "Did you hear? There will be a festival at a nearby town's shrine. I want to hang out there~"

The next message that came was Nico-Nii's. "The super idol is too busy with her career so she will not be able to attend the event."

"And what does that have to do with Nico-Nii-chan nya? If an idol can't attend, where is the problem. We just need Nico-Nii-chan to attend nya."

An angry face emoji was sent by the bard following that, followed by a laughing emoticon from Mikozomi. For the first time, PanaPana has decided to give her opinion as well though. "I still want to meet you all someday. We have known each others for a while so I guess I second Konoka-chan's opinion."

A thumb up was sent by Elicchi and then a message from Sonoda Umi followed. "That sounds good. How about next Sunday? If we are talking about the same festival held at Shinto shrine, then how about meeting at the park east of Akihabara so we could all take the train together."

"Sound good!" instantly came NyaRin's response.

Everyone but ToMaki and Nico-Nii sent a thumb up.

"Jeez! Come on ToMaki-chan~" Honoka pleaded.

However, before anyone could respond, Kotori quickly gave a message. "ToMaki-chan, you really need to come. You don't want to make Honoka-chan sad, don't you?"

Such words brought lot of malice, everyone understood. Even if they weren't all fortunetellers, they could tell that the brunette was pissed at the other side of the screen and want to strangle the red-head so they all tried to find a way to escape.

"I better get going." PanaPana was the first to log out, followed by Elicchi, Mikozomi and NyaRin.

"Whatever… I will be waiting at 8 AM on next Saturday in that case." Sonoda Umi sent a message before logging out.

"ToMaki-chan~" that was the only message from Kotori before everyone else still online flinched and decided against more resistance. She had the reputation of being able to hack several network services and might find their home. The last thing the red-head wanted was to find a psychopath barge in her house and murdering her in her sleep.

"I got it. I will be there at 8 AM. Happy?"

Honoka smiled at the response. "I can't wait to meet you, ToMaki-chan~"

As soon as the message was sent, a message from Kotori popped up. It contained several curse words that will not be shown for the sake of the fiction's rating. Honoka's face turned in horror as her skin turned pale. It was soon followed by a notification. "Sorry. My hands slipped." The brunette even added a smiling emoji but then the damage was done. No one dared saying anything though.

"I need to get going."

With that, everyone logged out, Honoka included. She then sighed while opening another tag and stared blankly at the screen, watching her half-done homework. However, no information about it entered her brain as her mind was being bugged by the curse words she saw earlier.

" _What am I doing with my life…?"_ She wondered, trying to imagine how her life might be if she had a yandere stalker having a crush on her. Despite being dense, she was sure Kotori definitely is a very possessive person. As if dealing with Kotori wasn't enough, she heard Ms. Minami was way more dangerous and the ginger flinched thinking about that. "Gyaa… I can't let myself get confused right now. I need to finish this project." She said that a little too loud, earning her a scowl from her mother.

[-x-x-x-]

 **A/N: Happy new year, everyone! I passed the exam by the way and I will be a third year student in college starting April. Wish me luck!**

 **Also, sorry for taking time updating…**

 **See you next time!**


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